Setting Up A Restaurant On Wheels, What You Should Know

If you’re a foodie and love to serve people with your flavors, then starting your own restaurant may be the most preferable career choice for you. However, opening and maintaining your own restaurant may be a challenging task. Particularly, if you’re struggling with finances.

Thankfully, there’s a much cheaper alternative that you can look forward to. A food truck is similar to a restaurant in many ways, but instead, it’s on wheels. In other words, you skip on buying or renting a restaurant space and still cook and serve your favorite savories to your customers.

That being said, setting up a restaurant on wheels has its own fair share of challenges. In this article, you shall find a step by step solution to opening your food truck and pursue your love for food.

Step 1. Find A Location To Park Your Truck

The very first step is to identify a location where you can set up your restaurant. It may sound obvious, but you need to understand that many places don’t allow food trucks. For instance, Sydney & Melbourne are highly popular among street food lovers. However, the city authorities have a limit to the number of trucks they allow on the streets. So ideally, you must identify the key locations where the permits are easily available. At the same time, you may also need to identify if the market has the potential for your restaurant business to grow. Usually, spaces near offices and commercial establishments are great for food trucks as the workers can get easy food nearby to their work locations.

Step 2. Assess The Available Resources

A crucial factor that must be calculated when choosing a location is the availability of resources. For your restaurant to be able to serve the customers at all times, you may need to keep up with the supplies at all times. It not only means that you must collect and store food items, but also other supplies that shall include fuel for cooking, spices, furniture, and other things. Most importantly, you must invest in diesel generators, regardless of whether you can plug your truck into a grid supply. It is to ensure that your restaurant, a.k.a your food truck, never operates in dark, and of course, your customers also get to enjoy their meals in bright lights. The key is to be able to serve your customers with food while maintaining a certain USP to your restaurant.

Step 3. Choose A Cheesy Name & A Menu

By now, you have all the basic things in order. You have a location to park your food truck, all the necessary resources are available close-by, but still, your customers don’t differentiate your restaurant from the others on the street. Essentially, you need a name for your restaurant. And it’s not only for your customers to be able to find you but also for availing a permit for your restaurant on wheels. Be choosy about naming your restaurant; it’s going to be the brand your restaurant represents. Furthermore, you also need a menu, and perhaps a catchy one! Typically, the name of your restaurant must also be indicative of your menu. And not to forget, the menu must include food items that your market demands.

Step 4. Discuss Your Finances & Liabilities

Most importantly, you need strong finances to be able to operate your restaurant business stress-free. Although the investment is pretty low as compared to a conventional brick and mortar restaurant, still it is vital to have a plan in place. Consider the costs of owning a truck, modifying it and fitting in the kitchen, investments on furniture, and lastly how much would you need for your regular supplies. Once you have all of these estimates with you, consider whether you wish to use your savings for the business, or you wish to borrow a loan from the bank. Notably, if you’re planning for a loan, make sure you also assess your existing debts and liabilities.

Step 5. Prepare A Secondary Plan For Growth

Uncertain situations are common to every business, and food trucks are no different. For instance, despite keeping up with the regular maintenance of your truck, there may arise a sudden breakdown in the transmission. Of course, you need to get it repaired as soon as possible. And to cover the expenses, you must have contingency plans in place. In fact, keeping a secondary backup plan for every situation is vital for the growth of your food business.

A food truck business, unlike conventional restaurants, gives you enough freedom to move around and explore new markets. But in the end, it’s up to you how you wish to grow your business. Nevertheless, the aforementioned steps apply commonly to all business plans around food trucks and restaurants on wheels.